U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes did nothing wrong in accepting a campaign contribution from defense industry contractors five weeks after adding a $2.6 million earmark to a $461 billion defense bill, his spokeswoman, Kira Maas, stated Tuesday.

The issue came up after a story from the Wall Street Journal about campaign contributions made to Reyes and others by executives from the Huntsville, Ala., defense contractor Digital Fusion Inc.

Maas wrote in an e-mail response to NPT queries that the $24,000 contribution to Reyes five weeks after the appropriation was "completely unrelated. Earmarks are congressionally-directed funding, and the request for this project was made in consultation with Fort Bliss officials, who said this funding would assist training of Fort Bliss soldiers and the ongoing transformation of the post."

She said that Digital Fusion already had a contract at Fort Bliss, although she did not have details immediately available. As for the timing, she wrote, "Earmarks are funded in the annual appropriations bill, which is dependent on the Appropriations Committee and the floor schedule (in this case, the House and Senate passed the Defense Appropriations Conference Report in November of last year and the President signed the bill into law shortly thereafter).

"Any insinuation that Reyes secured federal funding for political reasons is flat wrong."

The Wall Street Journal article, titled "Defense Firm Forged Close Ties To Congress to Get No-Bid Contracts" on page A-4 of the April 14 edition, outlined how the company executives "legally give money to the politicians they are lobbying for federal contracts. Often, these companies are seeking earmarks -- spending items backed by individual lawmakers, usually bypassing federal- contracting and competition rules."

The story notes that Digital Fusion includes two retired generals -- including Jay Garner, former administrator of Iraq -- on the board, and points out that its executives have given $150,000 to lawmakers in the last five years.

Those lawmakers include, the story states, "Sen. Richard Shelby and Rep. Terry Everett, both Republicans, and Rep. Robert "Bud" Cramer, a Democrat, and Rep. Reyes. In the same period, the company got at least $31 million in contracts funded by earmarks, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonprofit that tracks federal spending. The lawmakers said there was no connection between contributions to their campaigns and the contracts they funded through earmarks.

"Digital executives were encouraged to contribute in emails widely distributed within the company and reviewed by The Wall Street Journal."

The story also notes that some of the contributions by executives may have been reimbursed in form of bonuses, a practice alleged in a lawsuit filed by a former employee last year.

Company officials denied those allegations.